North Kentucky News

 Three Point Shooting Lifts Pats over Bulldogs

The Patriots traveled north to take on the Bulldogs of Wilberforce University and came away with a 91-89 win to move to 13-7 on the season, and 7-7 in MSC play. UC dug the deep ball Thursday night nailing 18 threes on 50% shooting, the second most threes made in a single game in program history.
 
Brady Bell was a major part of this, hitting a career-high seven threes, the most by any Patriot this season. The freshman ended the night with 23 points and 6 boards, both career high marks. Jahi Hinson also set a new career, dishing out 8 assists to go along with his 21 points and 3 rebounds. Jadrian Flores added 12 pts, 5 reb, and 2 stls while Isaiah Payton tallied 11 pts and 4 rebounds. Lamar Harris Jr. led UC on the boards with 8 while scoring 7 points as well.
 
Hinson opened the night with a pull-up jumper followed by a three pointer for the Pats. He also assisted a Harris Jr. lay in to tie the game up at 7-7 with 16:35 on the clock. Another strong finish from Harris and a lob from Hinson to Andre Silva put UC back up by two. Both teams continued to go back and forth with J.J. Flores knocking down a three and the Bulldogs hitting a three of their own followed by a layup in transition to take a four point lead. Another Wilberforce make forced Head Coach Matt Daniel to call a timeout.
 
The Patriots scored five straight out of the timeout including a slam from J.J. Ramey and a three out of Hinson. WU netted a pair of twos before Bell hit a triple and Flores had a fancy finish at the rim to make it a one possession game. Steven Fitzgerald got his first bucket of the night before the Patriots took the lead with Hinson's third three of the night. The final five minutes of the half was all Bell who knocked down three straight threes and made a nice move in the lane to get his 17th point of the half. The half ended with two technical free throws from Isaiah Payton and a Flores three to give UC the 50-40 lead.
 
Harris made his presence known on the defensive end getting a big block to open up the second half of play. Two free throws from Flores and a layup in transition out of Payton started the Pats scoring before Fitzgerald hit his first three of the night. The Bulldogs got to the foul line on straight possessions before a steal and dunk from Flores and Bell's sixth three on the night extended UC's lead to 14 with 15:36 on the clock.
 
Cumberlands continued to light up the three point line as Hinson, Ramey, and Payton each knocked one down to make it 71-55. WU would score eight points of their own before Kamari Kenemore drove to the hoop for his first points of the night. This followed a Ramey lay in and another triple out of Bell. Wilberforce took advantage of multiple UC miscues, scoring 12 unanswered to make it a three-point ballgame.
 
Payton ended this run with a shot from deep before Hinson made a nice move in the post to increase the lead back to eight. The Bulldogs responded with a layup of their own, making it a 83-77 UC lead into the under six media timeout. The Pats continued to let it fly from deep as Hinson hit his fifth triple of the game. WU responded with two made threes of their own before Harris tipped in a missed UC jumper.
 
The final three minutes of play was action packed as the Bulldogs hit two shots to cut UC's lead to just one. Harris Jr. proved big once again blocking another shot on the defensive end before finishing through contact in transition. A WU make in the paint brought it back to a one-point game with one minute remaining. A costly Wilberforce turnover with 20 seconds left forced a foul sending Payton to the line. He hit one of two, giving the Bulldogs a chance to tie or win it at the buzzer. Payton responded with a great defensive effort to force a turn around three as time expired. It had a chance, but clanked off the back of the rim to give UC the victory 91-89.
 
Cumberlands will be back on Saturday as they take on #10 Thomas More at home. Gametime is set for 3 PM ET.

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